TVDTLS Crossover: The Race to Find a Cure
by TOTVD21
Summary: What happens when a sick Katherine boards the Nathan James? Why are vampires catching the disease? Will Rachel's cure work on them? Or will vampires finally become only a bedtime story?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! all rights belong to their respectable owners.**

This story comes right after 1x07 (SOS) of The Last Ship and after season 3 of TVD. Elena has been a vampire for a while and is with Stefan. Because of the virus, Jeremy and Matt are dead. Bonnie is still a witch. Tyler left Mystic Falls with Hayley (Hayley is not pregnant.) Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah are living in New Orleans. Davina is alive, but Tim is not. Katherine does not yet know about Nadia.

I think that's it for a backstory…so enjoy! don't forget to comment/review for faster writing on my part!

Chapter 1

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

Dr. Rachel Scott paced in her lab. She only had two more monkeys left and she did not know if this last test for the cure would work. She hated knowing she would have to ask Captain Chandler to get more monkeys, since last time things went so horribly wrong. Whenever she looked at XO Slattery's face, the cut on his right cheek seemed to mock her—showing one more cut into the human race the virus caused that she could not fix.

She desperately wanted to call Quincy to help her, but she was still weary of how much he would actually help her, or if he would try to infect the ship again. Tex had reassured her that she knew what she was doing, and that she could figure it out, but she had her doubts.

Deciding that she needed some air, Rachel nodded to the guard by the lab and headed to the flight deck. As she walked in the hall, an alarm sounded and the hallway was suddenly filled with chaos. People were running towards her. She moved to the side to see that people were running away from what seemed like a sort of standoff in the middle of a hallway. XO Slattery, Captain Chandler, Master Chief, and Lt. Danny Green had their guns drawn facing all in one direction at a black mass. Amongst the confusion, Rachel could only see that this person was wearing black boots with five inch heels? She was completely confused. such shoes were not regulation…in fact they looked like a Prada pair she had hesitantly bought from a trip to Paris.

As she approached, she recognized the voice of the unnamed woman sporting designer shoes. Rachel's eyes became large as the woman said in a velvet voice dripping in sarcasm, "God you boys are hot. Hmm…if we can all come to an agreement I'd love to have you," then to Captain Chandler and XO Slattery, "I'd LOVE to have a threesome with you two."

Standing behind Danny, Rachel said in an exasperated, stunned voice, "Katherine." Everyone turned their heads to Rachel, somewhat lowering their weapons. Rachel gasped as she saw Katherine Pierce with her fangs out and blood on her chin, supporting an unconscious Tex, whose neck was bleeding terribly fast. Katherine's expression turned from a smirk to a genuine smile, as she said, "What gave me away? Was it the shoes? Or my fabulous hair?," then seeing Rachel's confused, shocked expression, she sighed saying, "It's been a long summer, Rachel."

Katherine dropped Tex to the floor and stepped over his body to approach Rachel, but was blocked by Master Chief. Scared of what Katherine would do if she didn't get to speak to her, she told Master Chief, "It's okay. Please just let me speak to her." Master Chief wearily nodded and lowered his weapon. Everyone else did the same. Master chief and Danny ran to check on Tex, while Slattery and Chandler remained ready watching Katherine attentively.

For the first time, Rachel was finally able to get a full view of Katherine. Her slight frame was adorned with all black—her leather jacket, her plunging neckline top, her belt…except for her hair. The normally dark curls were spiraticly replaced with strands of white and grey. Noticing the direction of Rachel's focus, Katherine's face suddenly became sad as she said, "Rachel I need your help. I'm desperate."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Meeting in a private room, Slattery and Chandler faced Rachel and Katherine. Both men were entirely confused. The room was silent until Chandler pulled the door shut behind him yelling, "What the hell is going on here?"

Katherine seemed to be taken aback, as if she didn't know someone could be that upset. Rachel looked down dejected and Slattery seemed to pity her position, in the situation. Suddenly, Rachel looked turned to Katherine and slapped her turning her face to the left. Shocked and humiliated, Katherine grabbed Rachel by the throat and pinned her to the two officers ran over to pull Katherine off, but she was stronger than both of them and pushed them to the floor. Turning to Rachel she sneered, "So this is the welcome I get? You do realize the last time we saw each other I was saving your ass right?"

Although Katherine's grip was ironclad tight, Rachel still managed to say, "As I do recall, you did just rip the throat out of the only guy here who was actually interested in me." Katherine immediately let go of Rachel and began laughing, "That is what you attracted? Of all the hot guys on this ship, hell in this room, you attract that one! What?"

Slattery and Chandler both stood up uncomfortably. Rachel moved by them and asked, "Katherine, what is it you want?"

Katherine crossed her arms and throwing her head back she groaned. "Ugh do I have to spell everything out for you? I want the cure."

Rachel shook her head, "Yea, so does everyone else, Katherine."

"No you don't understand Rachel," said Katherine getting upset, "I'm aging. The virus is a cure for vamparism, but because I've been alive for over five hundred years, I'm dying. It has returned me to the age I should be. And of course, I'm not the only one looking for this cure. Any vampire who has come into contact with an infected human can catch it, but strangely enough, no human can catch it from a vampire."

Rachel's mouth gaped open, "You mean…you're human?"

"Yes and no. I still have some of the little tricks of being a vampire, but I'm in transition. I still need blood, but I can get hurt, just like any of you. Once I become a full human, I'll be dead."

Rachel eyed Katherine and asked, "So what is it you want me to do?"

Upon hearing this Katherine's face grew shocked, then back into her signature bitchy smirk as she said, "I want you to for once in your pathetic little life live up to your word. I saved you in Paris. You owe me. You gave me your word."

Rachel stared at the floor for a moment and crossing her arms she said, "Fine. I'm ready to start the trials. You can be a subject."

Katherine smiled, "Now that is more like it."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Commander Slattery and Captain Chandler watched as the six candidates entered the plastic encased area in which Rachel was holding the trials. Master Chief took the bed at the end followed by Miller, Kara, Tex, Katherine, and Garnett. They each had a small case of things to occupy their time, while in incubation—well everyone except Katherine, who was already bored.

While, Rachel and Quincy began to administer the virus—as they had already given them the prototype vaccine—Katherine looked over at Tex with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for that. It was just bad timing on your part. And if you ask Rachel, she knows I always need to make an entrance."

Tex looked at Katherine with one eyebrow raised. She couldn't tell if he really meant the small thank you he uttered, but she knew she was going to be annoyed by him when he said a few moments later, "You know you're actually really hot. Almost as hot as Dr. Scott."

Rachel rolled her eyes. Katherine smiled slyly and crawled onto Tex's bed saying, "You know we'll be in here for a while. We'll need to do something to pass the time."

Before Tex could answer, Rachel grabbed Katherine's arm and roughly injected her with the virus asking, "Can you control yourself for five minutes?" Causing Tex and Katherine to smirk at the sight of her jealousy.

Katherine went back to her own bed and said, "Fine. Besides, I have my own boy toy."

Knowing she would regret asking, Rachel asked, "Which one of the Salvatore brothers is it this time?"

Katherine titled her head with a small, thoughtful smile saying, "The same one it has been since I met him in 1864: Stefan Salvatore."

Miller spoke to Katherine for the first time saying, "I know it's rude to ask a woman her age, but exactly how old are you?"

The room was silent and all eyes turned to Katherine, including Bertrise and the two commanding officers watching outside, as Katherine spoke, "Well since I was born in 1473, I would say I'm 541." As the number sunk in, the air suddenly became thicker and sensing it immediately, Katherine tried to make things light saying, "Well I spent over 500 of those running away from an immortal hybrid so I guess you could say I have only really _lived_ a little."

"How were you turned?" asked Master Chief, now intrigued.

Katherine sighed, "It's a very long story—"

"We don't mind listening. I mean it isn't like we are doing anything," said Kara speaking up.

Katherine crossed her legs and sat leaning against the plastic behind her bed. All eyes were on her as she began, "It all started when I was banished from Bulgaria," seeing Miller's mouth open to ask why, she said blatantly, "I had a baby out of wed lock. Shame. Anyways I never even got to hold my daughter, so it's not like I missed anything."

"Still," said Garnett, "You were her mother." Katherine looked at the picture of Garnett's daughter, Lily that she posted by her bed. "Thank you," said Katherine genuinely.

Then all sincerity disappeared as she said, "I went to England, where I met a nobleman named Elijah. Little did I know he was one of the Originals (first generation of vampires), but I was taken to him and his brother, Niklaus at first. That is, until I found out what he was, and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."

"What did they want?" asked Slattery engrossed in the girl's story.

"They wanted to break the curse placed on Klaus by his mother. You see their mother, Esther, was a very powerful witch, but she was also a bit of a slut. Klaus was not her husband's baby, but a son of a werewolf," at the mention of the terms "witch" and "werewolf" everyone seemed to tense up, but Katherine continued, "So she placed a curse on him keeping his werewolf side dormant, after turning her family into vampires so they would be all-powerful blah blah blah. Anyways, they needed three individuals to be sacrificed in order to break this curse: a vampire, a werewolf, and a doppelgänger. (A shadow person who's appearance is replicated throughout history. Apparently I am the clone, at least on the outside, of the girl Klaus and Elijah fancied and often fought over, Tatia. Luckily, one of Elijah's men, Trevor fancied me and helped me get away and after forcing Rose to feed me her blood, I hung myself in the cottage, where she was staying, thus turning myself into a vampire and rendering blood useless to Klaus."

Captain Chandler's eyes grew big, "You killed yourself?"

"Living out of a suitcase is better than dying so my blood can be spilled over a silly little moonstone," said Katherine indignantly.

"And how did you meet this Stefan?" asked Kara. Katherine looked over at the girl. She was sweating purfusely. Actually everyone was, except for her.

Katherine then realized, looking around, that Rachel's vaccine wasn't working. "Rachel, is everyone supposed to be sweating like this?"

Rachel nodded. "A fever is normal and the progression of the symptoms seems to be running on schedule. We should know soon if the vaccine kicks in. Katherine nodded. She glanced back at Kara and realized the girl had a blank stare. "Rachel. Get over here. It's Kara."

All at once everything seemed to happen, as if everyone could move with vampire speed. Kara began seizing. Quincy and Rachel got her on her side and were administering something. Captain Chandler and XO Slattery had gotten up and were yelling for Kara to stay with them. Master Chief, was clinging to his Bible suddenly let go and fell to the floor. Garnett began throwing up, and Tex yelled that he couldn't feel his left arm, while Katherine and Miller were the only two still intact. Miller looked to Katherine. The look on his face was one she had seen before. Anna, Pearl's daughter had the same look of fear when they took her mother away. Katherine quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. This was going to be a long day.

When everything was back under control, Rachel and Quincy left arguing with Captain Chandler about why the vaccine wasn't working. Katherine looked over at everyone: Tex was laying on his side, so she couldn't see his face. Kara was now unconscious and on oxygen. Master Chief kept twitching in his sleep. Garnett was singing to Kara, thinking she was her daughter. Miller lay still, his eyes a bright red, breathing slowly. Katherine shook her head. She felt none of these symptoms. It wasn't fair. She had been a survivor. She ran from Klaus for over five-hundred years, she had killed hundreds to stay alive, she survived childbirth and now she was going to die from a genetically mutated virus created by the humans. Vampire prey. Katherine leaned back and let herself drift off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As Katherine awoke, she was profoundly surprised. She didn't know how long she had been asleep for, but it must have been a while. Everyone was well again. They were all sitting upright laughing at something Tex had just said. When Tex saw her push herself upright he smiled, "Morning princess."

Katherine looked at Tex confused. "What happened?"

Master Chief spoke saying, "Rachel did. She reinvented the vaccine, and now it's a cure."

Katherine blinked twice and sat up instantly. "A cure," she repeated a smile flickering on her lips. All at once the room became silent. Katherine looked around. "What?"

Rachel brought over a mirror saying, "Katherine I don't want you to freak out—"

"Give me that," said Katherine snatching the mirror. She looked into it and her mouth gaped open. Her hair was almost completely grey. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had wrinkles beginning to form around her eyes. "Oh my god."

Rachel sat next to Katherine and took her hand into not of her biohazard glove covered hands. even through the plastic mask, Katherine could see Rachel was crying. "I'm so sorry Katherine. But it seems as though the cure for humans only increases the progression of the virus in vampires. You can come out of here, humans can't be contaminated by a vampire, at least that when—"

"What? So when what? So when I die I won't be stuck in this plastic container? No. No. No.," said Katherine standing up. Her side hurt like hell, but ignoring it she shouted, "You need to fix this! I'm a survivor, Rachel. I'm _the_ Katherine Pierce!"

Within seconds of Katherine's fit, Danny was running to Captain Chandler saying, "Sir. We've got a problem on the flight deck."

Following Rachel, the other five test subjects, Slattery, Danny and Chandler, Katherine ran onto the flight deck. The group had stopped suddenly when they saw a young girl with straight brown hair, a girl with slightly curly black hair, and two men with black leather jackets all collapsed on the floor. Never did Katherine imagine that she would see Elena, Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie on this ship.

As Elena began waking up, she rolled to her side. Seeing her get up, Stefan immediately went to help her. Snorting in disgust, Katherine stepped directly in front of Elena and said, "Well look at what we have here."


	5. Chapter 5

Damon stood first and asked Katherine, "What happened to you ugly?"

Katherine smirked, "Always a pleasure Damon."

Rachel stepped forward, "Katherine, what the hell is going on here?"

Stefan supported Elena as she stood and Katherine nearly fell over from laughing so hard. Elena had a slight, grey streak in her hair. "I can see Lucy did what she was told. At least someone lives up to their word," she said glancing back at Rachel.

Bonnie pushed herself up and confused asked, "Lucy? My cousin?" What the hell did you do?"

Katherine danced around the ship laughing. "I knew that there was a very large chance I wouldn't be able to find Rachel, even with a tracking spell, let alone that she would have a cure. So, I made sure I would be leaving Elena a little gift, before I died. After all, Miss Popular has to be included in everything right?"

"No," said Damon charging at Katherine, "You didn't." Katherine caught Damon's fist and threw him backward. She may have looked a lot older, but she still had her kickass moves. "Now. If you idiots want to save Elena, you're going to have to save me, because whatever happens to me will happen to Elena and vice versa."

"How did you even get here?" asked Katherine crossing her arms?"

"Damon walked straight up to Katherine and said, "A certain Original told us you would be looking for Dr. Rachel Scott, so we had Sabrina over here do a quick tracking spell and voila we found you guys…Granted then we had to find a boat and—"

"Wait!" yelled Katherine, "A certain Original as in?"

"Oh yes," said Damon grinning, "I guess you two aren't as friendly as you think you are. He actually provided us with the boat!"

"Katherine, who are they talking about?" asked Rachel, a small spasm of panic in her voice.

"Elijah Mikaelson," said Damon smirking.

Rachel gasped, "Elijah is alive?" All eyes turned to Rachel. Katherine slowly began stepping backwards.

"Duh. And you know him?" asked Damon.

"Know him. He was my fiancee," said Rachel.

*Note: (Don't worry guys Rachel will still be with Tom, this is just for Katherine and Rachel's backstory)


	6. Chapter 6

While Rachel began throwing insults at Katherine, Captain Chandler felt his eyesight begin to fade. As he swayed back and forth, he titled his head staring at Elena. _It couldn't be her._ he thought. _There was no way that this was Elena._ Slattery noticed Chandler's odd behavior and asked, "Tom, are you okay?"

Chandler quickly pulled Slattery aside, "Mike, have you looked at this girl? This is her. This is Rick's Elena." Slattery titled his head in thought. then, his eyes grew big as he said, "My god."

Captain Chandler quickly left the dumbfounded Slattery and called out to the group saying, "My name is Captain Thomas Chandler of the U.S. Navy. Welcome to our ship. Please make yourselves comfortable," then to Elena, "Please, may I have a word with you."

Confused, Elena tilted her head, but nodded. She followed them through the halls and into a large room. Looking at the pictures on the desk, she realized it was Captain Chandler's. Captain Chandler pulled the door shut, as Slattery stood, a little more relaxed, by the desk, leaving Elena awkwardly standing in front of the bed. She didn't even know these men, yet they wanted to talk to here…almost as if they knew her…

Chandler began, "Our apologies for being so...mysterious...but we need to speak with you, Elena. Did you know an Alaric Saltzman?"

Caught off guard, Elena blinked several times and opened and closed her mouth, though no sound came out, before saying, "Rick? Of course! He was Jeremy and my guardian, when our Aunt Jenna died. He was like a father..."

Slattery leaned against the wall and asked her, though not looking at her, "Did you know he was in the Navy?"

Elena's eyes grew big and a small smile crept onto her lips, "No. I had no idea, although I wouldn't be surprised..."

"He was one of our best officers," said Chandler, looking at Elena directly and taking a step closer to her, "He could have even become an XO. But we unfortunately had to relieve him of his duties."

"What? Why?" asked Elena suddenly confused.

"You see, he began this obsession, and it started to interfere with our missions," said Chandler carefully watching her expression, "He was obsessed with vampires."

Elena nodded her head, "Yea it started after my biological mom, uh his wife Isobel was killed by Damon or actually turned by him, though Rick didn't know it at the time—"

Both officers were stunned. "Whoa," said Slattery, "Isobel was your mom?"

Elena nodded, "But Alaric wasn't my dad. My dad was Isobel's high school lover, John Gilbert. But being that it was a teen pregnancy and John's brother, Grayson and his wife, Miranda delivered me and wanted kids, they adopted me."

The room was quiet for a moment before Chandler spoke, "Is Alaric still alive?"

Dejected, Elena shook her head. "No. He was killed after being spelled by Esther, The Original Witch, to become a vampire hunter. She made a connection between him and myself, so that if I died, he also would and Klaus wouldn't be able to make his hybrids. So when I became a vampire—"

The room was silent,after Elena cut herself off, until a small knock made everyone look up.


End file.
